Many owners and drivers of off-road vehicles such as Jeep® brand vehicles choose to enhance their stock vehicles with aftermarket accessories. Such accessories might include, for example, driving lights, snorkels, winches, wheels, suspensions, special ruggedized tires, and the like. While some off-road accessories are decorative, most serve the purpose of enhancing the resiliency and survivability of the vehicle when it is driven on very demanding and often punishing off-road terrain. One accessory often added to an off-road vehicle is protective guards that partially cover headlights, tail lights, and other lights with lenses subject to being broken by flying debris or impact. Tail lights can be particularly vulnerable since on most off-road vehicles, the tail lights mount on the surface of the vehicle and are completely exposed at the rear of the vehicle. A broken or non-functioning light can be unsafe, particularly in remote locations at night when it is important to see and be seen by other off-roaders nearby.
Numerous protective guards have been developed that at least partially cover the tail lights of off-road vehicles. Most such guards include some type of cage that covers the lenses of a tail light to deflect debris that might otherwise shatter the lenses. However, most such guards do little to prevent breakage of the tail light in the event of a serious impact to the tail light guard. This is at least in part because existing guards generally attach to the tail light structure itself either with screws or by simply being adhered to the lens with adhesive tape. Thus, in the event of a serious impact to the tail light guard, the force of the impact is transferred directly to the tail light inducing forces that often break the tail light or at least its lenses and/or render the tail light inoperable.
A need exists for a tail light guard for off-road vehicles that not only deflects flying debris but that also is configured such that the force of an impact to the guard is not transferred to tail light or its lenses, thereby avoiding breakage and assuring continued operation of the tail light when an impact occurs. It is to the provision of such a tail light guard that the present invention is primarily directed.